Fighting for Peace
by The Fic Critic
Summary: 10 years after Endless Waltz, the Gundam Pilots have settled down, with children. A terrorist organization captures them, and the Pilots must find a way to save them-without destroying pacifism. Formatting finally works now! Please Review!
1. Chapter 1: Taken

Peace must be fought for.  
  
These words echoed in Relena's mind as she read the note in front of her laptop screen. It wasn't possible-no, it' couldn't happen.  
  
Heero walked in through the door of their small house in the Sanq Kingdom. Relena's face was pale as she almost dropped her laptop. "Relena."  
  
She burst into tears immediately and showed Heero the laptop screen, showing an e-message.  
  
Dear Gundam Pilots,  
There are those of us who believe you were wrong.  
The world will never be truly united without an enemy to join forces  
against.  
And the Gundams, the tools of mass destruction are all the essential to  
world harmony. If we must sacrifice peace to achieve the goal of a united world, we will  
do so. We will accomplish the ideals of the greatest men on the Earth. Hitler, Alexander, China, Attila. All were cruel, their dreams close to  
the mark, but misguided. They wanted to unite the world under them by  
conquering. We will unite it by being conquered, and in the ashes will rise up to assume leadership. You children, though small, are the perfect tools for this, and so we have taken the liberty of capturing them. You can maintain your peaceful ways and watch them become pawns, sent to kill  
or even to die, or you can abandon your no weapon pacifism and come to  
destroy us. But we will be victorious in the end.  
Neo Lion  
  
Sally Po glanced over at her husband Wufei, who's vice-like grip was trying to crush the life out of his laptop. Ever since thei had gotten the news that their child, Li, had been kidnapped, Wufei's arm had been trying to bring justice on their computer. "This isn't something we can handle ourselves, Wufei. We have to call in the Preventors," Sally Po mused, trying to wipe the tears off her face. Wufei glanced back, blinking-could it be?-away from his eyes. "If we call them in, there's no way the government won't get word. It will lead to pointing fingers on the Earth and colonies, and could spark the beginnings of an end to pacifism as it is now," Wufei said, dtanding for emphasis. "We call in-the Gundam Pilots."  
  
Quatre and Dorothy were the last to arrive in the Sanq Kingdom. Heero stood up as the entered his and Relena's house, trying to keep a low profile by making the meeting in a house. "I can see we're all here. All of our children have been kidnapped by an organization called Neo Lion. What is our first objective?" Heero stated flatly. Duo spoke up. "We should obviously trace their location first." Heero tossed him a floppy disk. "That disk contains their location, on the L1 cluster, a map of the the entire colony, and a list of places I suspect could be their headquarters. The most obvious one is the construction area for a new section of the colony." Duo gaped in wonder.  
  
"That fast and that thorough? He's not human!" Duo mused. Midii Une threw her two cents in.  
  
"Then are we all going on this mission together? To infiltrate their headquaters without the Preventors? Isn't that a little insane?" Midii stated. The Gundam Pilots glanced around at each other, but it was Midii's husband, Trowa who broke the silence.  
  
"You aren't going."  
  
By the word 'you', everyone knew what he meant.  
  
"What do you mean by that. These are our children, too! You can't exclude us from this. I myself was in the military for years!" Sally exclaimed. Wufei smirked.  
  
"We aren't excluding you. You got to be in the meeting," Wufei said. "The fact is, we're walking into a trap. We could and probably will be trapped, tortured, and used for their purposes if not killed. This mission is impossible," said Heero. Relena glared at him.  
  
"Then why are you walking in half-cocked and without backup, if it's impossible?!" she said. The Gundam Pilots, ignoring her, all stood up and went for the door, Heero the last to exit. Before he walked out, he half turned to the wives in the room.  
  
"We're Gundam Pilots. We were trained in doing the impossible."  
  
So how was that for a beginning? Pretty good, eh? Please read and review, guys! Tell me what you want to see in the next chapter, BESIDES the introduction of the children. 


	2. Chapter 2: Grief

An hour later, the women were all struggling to cope with the loss of their children in Relena's house. "For as long as it takes to get our children back, you are all welcome to stay here in the Sanq Kingdom. Besides.. I think it will be better for all of us that way," Relena said. The other women in the room nodded their affirmation.  
  
"I just don't understand-why would anyone bring children into such twisted ideals," Midii stated, her voice cracking. "It's just that-none of the kids deserve to be pawns in another war. I don't want to lose this family to war as well-" Midii broke down crying, and Hilde began to do the same. Dorothy, sitting at the table, began to writhe in anger.  
  
"How could I be so-so stupid! Why couldn't I have monitored them more closely? Wouldn't it be obvious that the children of Gundam Pilots would be targets?" Dorothy slammed her fist on the table, spilling some of her coffee over the sides of her cup.  
  
"None of us could have anticipated this, Dorothy. We all had thought the world had become pacifist. We were caught in the world as a whole-we forgot the individuals, all of us," Sally chimed in. Dorthy looked towards the floor, her face downcast and troubled.  
  
"Because of all this. Will I have another grave to visit when this is all over?" Dorothy fought back tears as Sally glanced helplessly at Relena. "It's all just falling apart, Relena. What can we do?" she asked. Relena returned her question with a determined look that had stared down many politicians. "We can wait, we can pray, and we can trust in our children and their fathers."  
  
Li Chang stood up and punched the wall of the truck he and his comrades were in. "Darn it! We aren't tied or bound, we aren't even sedated, and we're being carried off like prisoners! This is ridiculously injust!" Trinity Maxwell leaned against the truck.  
  
"Yeah, so what're we gonna do? Punch through it? We wait, and we figure out what to do while we're helpless," she said.  
  
"Being helpless is for the weak. Argh, what will they do to us?" Li responded.  
  
"This is no time for your pride or your stupid emotions, so just sit down and be quiet," Trinity replied.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
"My father always said that one should act on their emotions. We aren't ordinary children at all. So if we let our emotions guide us, we could be successful," Triton Barton said. The others eyed him quizzically.  
  
"I agree with Triton. We have to be calm, but we aren't robots. We need to rely on our emotions. No one knows what'll happen to us in there. We'll not only need to rely on emotions, but each other," said Peace Winner, holding her sleeping little brother Rashid's hand. All of the children looked over to the one who hadn't spoken yet. The child stood up to face all of them.  
  
"Our captors aren't looking to kill us or ransom us. They want to use us to disrupt peace," Heero Yuy Jr. stated flatly. "I haven't seen war, but I know too many people who have lost parents, or siblings to it. I know too many who have been warped and scared for life. My uncle, my father, I know only bits and pieces about what happened to them. All I know is, I'd rather die than help YOU WITH YOUR WAR!" Heero shouted at the wall. The other kids looked around as Heero managed to walk in the shaking vehicle over to the far wall above where Li was sitting. He reached to it and picked up a small device camouflaged to be hardly noticeable, and threw it to the floor.  
  
"You disgust me." Heero crushed the device under his foot.  
  
Commander Long gestured to his assistant. "Maintaining internal monitoring of the transport vehicle?" he asked. The assistant shook his head.  
  
"01's kid somehow found the device we planted inside. We're blind until they arrive," the assistant responded. Long viciously backhanded the assistant to the ground.  
  
"Next time have a backup plan, you idiot. We are dealing with the children of the greatest soldiers the world has ever known. Don't treat them like brats off the street," Long said. "They obviously have some sort of soldier training, in case of such babynappers like us. When they get here, bring them directly to me. Papa has big plans for them." 


	3. Chapter 3: Hope Defeated

Note: There has been a plot change, and this takes place 15 years after Endless Waltz. The children are all 13 years of age except Rashid, who is 8 years old.  
  
The caravan stopped, and all of the children looked up. The sleepy Rashid held to his sister Peace, afraid. Heero looked over at the Winner duo.  
  
"They have an advantage on strength, so we will have to only attack their sensitive areas if we want to make a break for it. Peace, hang back and protect Rashid in case we're unsuccessful."  
  
Li took a place at Heero's right hand, Trinity on his right. Triton hung in just behind them and out of sight, where he would undoubtedly spring into battle with an acrobatic flip. As the door opened, they noticed all the soldiers armed and ready with pistols. Heero thought. He shot a look at his comrades that told them to stay in position as they were rushed out of the car. Heero looked down, defeated. then dropped in a spinning sweep kick that dropped three guards to the ground. One of the guards escorting Trinity rushed over to nail Heero, but Trinity knocked him down with a solid crescent kick to the kidney.  
  
"Move!" Li called. Peace led Rashid out of the area and then watched the other four fight, ready to intervene if necessary. Triton launched in a handspring, then an aerial somersault and landed on the back of one of the guards. He found a pressure point, struck, and went for a next target as the man sulked down, unconscious.  
  
"Run everyone!" Heero shouted over the chaos as more guards came to fill the ranks. Sure enough, Triton, Trinity, and Li rushed away from the scene. But Heero, stayed, trying to evade the guards who had surrounded him. They had him smashed into a wall, slowly beating him with their batons. Triton, Trinity, and Peace rushed over to assist.  
  
"No! That's what they want!" The guards jumped back, encircling the new occupants. Attacked from all sides, the four children could do little to defend themselves. Li rushed to aid, but the guards nearly encircled him.  
  
"We give up!" he cried. "Stop this injustice now!" A man in decorative uniform emerged from the scene, laughing.  
  
"My name is Commander Long, but you can call me uncle if you want," The man said to Li. Li backed up, only to be spurred forward by the guards. "Or did your father not tell you? He had a brother. A brother he left to die on an colony slowly being destroyed."  
  
"How would he know that you were alive after the colony was gassed? Besides, if I were him, I would have left scum like you to die too!" Li yelled. Long smiled at him.  
  
"I would torture you first, but I have plans for you." Long looked over the horrified children. "I think you'll go first." He pointed to Trinity, who recoiled. Heero stepped in front of her.  
  
"No! What reason do you have for torturing us? Just what is it you want to know?" The kids looked over at Heero, hesitantly, hoping he knew what he was doing.  
  
"Oh, don't worry about that. It is more a question of what I want YOU to know," he said deviously. The message was clear to Heero. Long was trying to break them down. And he would start with-  
  
"I won't let you!" Heero said, taking one more step in front of Trinity. All the guards bored down on him and the others, despite their protests, and separated them from their comrade who was being carried off inside.  
  
"You can't stop us." Long followed the others inside. 


	4. Chapter 4: Endure

The guards ushered the children into the facility, a complex system of doors and spiral stairs, undoubtedly an ideal place to hold fragile but volatile prisoners.  Heero Jr. stood in front of a triangle formation.  If there had been any doubts that he was the leader, Commander Long had none anymore.  He noticed that his nephew Li was on Heero's right hand, as Trinity was hauled into a room with a strange bundle of cords in it.  All the children sat down and were instantly bolted to their chairs.

"What is this?" Trinity asked.  Long smiled at her, one that outwardly told of pleasure and inwardly of malice and sadisticness.

"This is where you will be tortured until you or one of your friends agrees to cooperate." Long said.  The children struggled at their bindings.  It was no use…they could feel the flimsy bindings stressing, but could not break them. No doubt a psychological ploy.

Trinity struggled over to Heero as the guards tried to pull her to the machine.  She whispered in his ear.  "Hold strong.  Don't let the others give in.  We can't let them accomplish-."  They dragged her to the machine before she could finish and began assembling the bindings.

Peace looked on the situation, unable to think.  All she could do was cling to Rashid and pray for their safety.  She looked over at Triton, but his face was unreadable as usual.  Li was tense, his loyalties obviously divided.  How long could he watch one of his friends tortured for the good of Earth and the colonies?  They were abstract at best-but here was his childhood friend who was real…

Long smiled again, that insincere grin that aggravated his prisoners.  "This little exercise requires a bit of explanation.  The machine here will administer a pseudo- electric pulse that her body will not be harmed, but her nerves will think that it is.  It's a little like fire, if I turn the force down."  He pulled the lever up all the way.  "But that wouldn't be fun, now would it."  He stepped out of the way and motioned for one of the guards to turn on the machine.

Trinity's pulse could almost be heard through the room.  She started panting heavily, the speed increasing with each breath.  _They cannot know my pain_, Trinity thought.  _Or they'll give in for sure._  Waves of agony hammered her brain, her entire body felt like it was being consumed by lava.  She was racked constantly by a sea of pain.  Her entire body felt like folding up.  The agony tried to come out of her mouth, but she kept it shut.  She swayed side to side, trying to distract herself from the white, all consuming pain.  It was a light that was slowly erasing her being, and soon all that would be left would be the pain.  And then she noticed-only one of the levers were up.  Maybe she could endure-.

Long switched on the last lever himself.

Trinity's screams could be heard from outside of the room.  Her friends tried to look away, but the chair was designed so that upper body movement was hampered.  Rashid was shivering, clinging as usual to his sister while crying for Trinity.

Heero felt absolute rage at the smiling Commander.  One look at Li guaranteed him that Li felt the same way as Trinity's body convulsed in spasms.  Her eyes seemed empty, her spirit broken, and the only assurance they had that she was alive and not just spasming in death was that she kept screaming.  Heero wondered how long she really could endure the torture.

Li knew Trinity as long as any of them had.  She wouldn't break so easily, and neither would Heero under torture.  But Li understood that it wasn't the one tortured who would break.  It was the ones who had to watch.  And if they gave in-

"Stay strong, guys.  We can't let them win."   Triton nodded, sweat wettening his brow with worry.

But Heero couldn't hear Li.  All he could hear was Trinity's screams of pain.  She began to beg them to be let out, but whenever they asked her if she would cooperate- she would not answer them.  Heero struggled at his bonds again, this time with such a furiosity that the flimsy but strong synthetic wiring began to stretch.

"Heero! No!" Triton called out to him.  Long gestured for a guard, who got a gun from his back.  

"Don't move," Long commanded.  The gunman took aim-and Heero broke through the wire.  A single shot echoed throughout the room.  Peace screamed.

"Heero!"

Heero, Sr. glanced at his laptop on the shuttle.  Trowa hovered over his shoulder as they attempted to hack through old government records to find outspoken dissidents of the new system Relena had set up.  Duo and Quatre worked at another computer, while Wufei stared out at the stars.

"Wufei, what do you think you are doing?  Your child is out there too, don't you feel like helping?" Duo asked, incredulously.  Wufei merely looked down.  Trowa spoke up in Wufei's defense.  

"I think this whole escapade may have something to do with his past.  If he's in conflict, shouldn't he work it out before he continues?"  

Wufei didn't acknowledge either of them.  He merely kept staring out into the starts, wondering.  _Was I justified, that day?_  


End file.
